High heel wearing, pot smoking musician did better than some politicians Tuesday

LAFAYETTE - Perhaps the loudest message voters sent came in the quiet loss of Jacob "Dorian Phibian" Hebert's congressional bid for the Lafayette area Tuesday night.

While his political career is over for now - maybe forever, as he wrote before the election he doesn't "ever want to talk about politics again" - you can't count out what happened to him. Hebert, an eccentric, acknowledged pot smoker, garnered more votes than some well-known candidates in Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District.

Hebert missed the runoff with his 9% of the vote, but finished ahead of Republican "Gus" Rantz and Democrat Larry Rader. As the Lafayette publication INDEPENDENT pointed out, both Rantz and Rader had more organized, well-funded campaigns. Rantz was a mainstream GOP candidate and Rader is an insurance agent who also runs a Lafayette-area port.

Hebert secured 28,358 votes; Rader 27,807 and Rantz 25,640.

Both Hebert and Rader are listed as Democrats, although ahead of the election Hebert said the Democratic Party was no longer aligned with his values and announced he was running "in the name of Anime, Manga, Psychedelia, Women, & Fat Blunts."

The INDEPENDENT pointed out as a musician and entertainer, Hebert turned his campaign for congress into a "sublime performance art."

Hebert caused a ruckus at a Democratic meeting in Lafayette where he wore high heels and threw food onto the stage. He said a security stalked him until he left.

"It was my first day home from the mental hospital. Weeeeeee," he posted about the situation.

Even at third place, Hebert's votes are far fewer than those of the two candidates who made it into a runoff – those candidates took three times as many votes.

But, the next election won't be free of characters. Voters will decide on December 10th whether to elect Clay Higgins, the tough talking, former sheriff's deputy labeled the "Cajun John Wayne" or Lafayette politician Scott Angelle.